2016 - Wise Ol' Man

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19 February: EP - Wise Ol' Man

"On the bus, the hill folk, remove, ear plugs"

Two new songs, some alternative versions/remixes and a live track - this EP is a mixed bag.

The title track belts along nicely and while you can barely understand a word MES says, Eleni's vocal plays well off him. A lot gets crammed into three and a half minutes.

All Leave Cancelled weighs in a full five minutes longer. As with some of the Re-Mit and Remainderer output there's a lot going on here. A bit too much in fact. Dave's Spurr's bass holds things together as best he can while the group and MES do their own thing. It's a Schrödinger's cat of a song which is simultaneously great and terrible!

The Dedication (Remix) is terrific though. I'm far too old for the drum and bass/dance music clubs but this is exactly what I'd what want to hear at them! OK, it should finish two minutes sooner but I can forgive it that. The Wise Ol' Man (Instrumental) isn't an instrumental and neither is it different enough from the more lyrical version to really merit much of a mention.

Venice with Girls is another one that isn't massively different from its first release (on Sub-Lingual Tablet.) A bit more keyboard maybe? 

A different version of Face Book Troll merges into a live No Xmas for John Quay. Troll is excellent, I'm not sure there could be a bad version. Sadly, the same can't be said for No Xmas. I like the original, this does nothing for it.

The EP finishes with All Leave Cancelled (X). A proper instrumental this time it's an intriguing couple of minutes and leaves you wanting more.

When this EP came out it went back on the shelf after a couple of plays. I feel I may have wronged it. I've felt that way about a few records during this process. It could be a few things...
  • The Fall's later records have prepared me in some way for their earlier sound
  • Knowing there's no new Fall music to come makes me appreciate what we've got a bit more
  • I like very little new music I'm hearing so am happy to explore my more-neglected Fall records
  • My tastes have changed
  • Some or all of the above
Or something else altogether. Anyhow. We need a selection for this year so it's Wise Ol' Man.


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